The Unfan

I find that I prefer the depth of Dinosaur Jr's writing to the simplicity of The Pixies. The songs are busy sounding yet very mellow which makes it kind of trippy sometimes.

jackhammer

Taking the Pixies track by track, they can seem kinda average at times as their songs work on a simple, workable sound but then you put them all together into one album and realise that they can do many genres easily, effectively and still do themselves justice.

Here comes Your Man is the best track the 60's didn't write. Cecilian Ann is the best Surf Rock song you may not have heard. Tame is vitriol personified. Dinosaur Jr's dense but pop like structures could be argued as more influential within their own genre and Living All Over Me is a ridiculously great album and perfect for when you want melodious noise upon your ears.

Pixies influenced a wider range of bands for sure but Dinosaur Jr are sometimes a much more rewarding and cohesive listen. After all that I am undecided!

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TumorAttitude

Pixies. I really don't care for Dinosaur Jr. I find it dull. I listened to one of their albums three times and I don't remember anything about it...Are you guys going to post a video of like, elevator music and tell me I don't know the meaning of the word boring?

I forgot that the Pixies did that song for Fight Club, which just makes my vote for them 10,000 times stronger.

boo boo

Pixies because their bassist didn't form that piece of sh*t Sebadoh.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

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lucifer_sam

DJR because their bassist didn't form those pieces of sh*t Breeders & Amps.

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first.am

boo boo

Breeders >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sebadoh.

I like Deal as a singer and bassist. Can't say the same for Barlow, why is that guy idolized again? He was a completely inaudible bass player on two great Dinosaur Jr albums which he contributed absolutely nothing to, well whoopedy f*cking sh*t.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Engine

RE Barlow: He pretty much invented 'lo-fi' as we know it in his earliest Sebadoh recordings. Sparse and indulgent as it is - I like that music better than 80% of all rock music ever made. Also, Folk Implosion was a great band who harnessed extreme apathy and made it exciting, I'm not sure that has been done before or since.

Aside from that...

The answer is the Pixies by far.

morgos

For me it's Pixies no contest. I never got nearly as into Dinosaur Jr. as I did the pixies. I'm very picky about vocalists, and Frank Black is one of my favorites.

lucifer_sam

i don't like either band, but i can certainly see the appeal to the pastiche songwriting in Sebadoh moreso than Breeders.

and for the record, Barlow actually IS a great bassist (unlike Deal), he and Murph anchor the songs better than anyone else can (see: DJR in the '90s). and even his songwriting has vastly improved in DJR since their early material.

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first.am

boo boo

I don't know how you could argue that Deal is not a good bassist unless you want to go by skill, and you don't come off to me as someone who really gives a sh*t about skill.

Deal makes simple but memorable basslines and you really couldn't have The Pixies without them, they're the foundation for a lot of their songs, they often provide the real drive or hooks to their songs.

But not even the best headphones in the world is gonna do you any good in spotting the bass in You're Living All Over Me or Bug, Barlow was a throwaway bassist during his tenure with Dino Jr, plain and simple. They clearly did alright without him, they had at least two more good albums and holy sh*t those had actual basslines. Hmm...

Bass does play a bigger role in Sebadoh and I can agree that technically he is better, but yeah, Sebadoh being the definition of sh*tty lo fi, technical skill isn't doing him the world of good. Overall I consider him to be a very mediocre songwriter, he wrote the two worst songs from YLAOM, seriously, why is this guy so popular?

Saying a disposable, inaudible bassist for a band that during his tenure didn't emphasize bass at all is somehow better than a bassist who provided the hooks for a band that was all about poppy basslines that were to be copied shamelessly by most alt rock bassists for the next 20 years? Yeah, I think you're being heavly influenced by a little thing called fanboism.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs